Re: Marking Time...
| April 21, 2024 08:51AM |
Roman Ildonzo Gabriel Jr.,
August 05,1940--April 20,2024
Growing up near Niagara Falls, Canada, all of us played hockey & baseball, and of course, in 1967 in the conformity-factory called High School, everybody was a Toronto Maple Leaf and NY Yankee fan. Then NFL football started getting more of a big push on TV, so suddenly most everybody was a Green Bay Packer fan.
Well something funny happened to this 14 year old product of my Hungarian parents, with a different name....
...in December of '67, I watched Roman Gabriel (what I glorious name thought I
) capitalize on Ram backup LB Tony Guillory's block of GB Packer Donnie Anderson's punt, and hit Bernie Casey for a last minute TD to upset the vaunted media-darling Packers.
and I was hooked........for a lifetime.
It was probably my first act of bucking conformity.....of shunning 'the norm' which included signing up for the military up here in liberal Canada, in 1972, when civilians, and our young generation, were calling us "baby-killers" & "war-mongers".
Thanks to Gabe, Deacon, Merlin, Jack NeverBeenCaughtFromBehind Snow, Jack Pardee, Eddie Meador and the rest who wore The Horns, for giving me a start in independent thinking and choosing roads less travelled!
Back to Gabe...
These old eyes were fortunate enough to watch-live Roman Gabriel in September 1970, at nearby War Memorial Stadium (aka TheOldRockPile per Buffalonian Ron Jaworski), dismantle the Bills 19-0, and then in December 1971 in (then) brand-new Three River Stadium, when 4 of us knuckleheads braved a 4 hour drive in a snowstorm from Niagara to Pennsylvania, in the Ram season finale where Gabe outclassed some Steeler youngster named Bradshaw!
These same old eyes admittedly got a tad welled-up when I read of Gabe's passing yesterday.
Paraphrased from eulogy scene in the movie, Out Of Africa.....
Almighty God,
Now take back the soul of Roman Gabriel,
Whom you have shared with us.
He brought us joy, and we loved him well....
Now please bless him and keep him with you!
VancouverRam
August 05,1940--April 20,2024
Growing up near Niagara Falls, Canada, all of us played hockey & baseball, and of course, in 1967 in the conformity-factory called High School, everybody was a Toronto Maple Leaf and NY Yankee fan. Then NFL football started getting more of a big push on TV, so suddenly most everybody was a Green Bay Packer fan.
Well something funny happened to this 14 year old product of my Hungarian parents, with a different name....
...in December of '67, I watched Roman Gabriel (what I glorious name thought I
) capitalize on Ram backup LB Tony Guillory's block of GB Packer Donnie Anderson's punt, and hit Bernie Casey for a last minute TD to upset the vaunted media-darling Packers.and I was hooked........for a lifetime.
It was probably my first act of bucking conformity.....of shunning 'the norm' which included signing up for the military up here in liberal Canada, in 1972, when civilians, and our young generation, were calling us "baby-killers" & "war-mongers".
Thanks to Gabe, Deacon, Merlin, Jack NeverBeenCaughtFromBehind Snow, Jack Pardee, Eddie Meador and the rest who wore The Horns, for giving me a start in independent thinking and choosing roads less travelled!
Back to Gabe...
These old eyes were fortunate enough to watch-live Roman Gabriel in September 1970, at nearby War Memorial Stadium (aka TheOldRockPile per Buffalonian Ron Jaworski), dismantle the Bills 19-0, and then in December 1971 in (then) brand-new Three River Stadium, when 4 of us knuckleheads braved a 4 hour drive in a snowstorm from Niagara to Pennsylvania, in the Ram season finale where Gabe outclassed some Steeler youngster named Bradshaw!
These same old eyes admittedly got a tad welled-up when I read of Gabe's passing yesterday.
Paraphrased from eulogy scene in the movie, Out Of Africa.....
Almighty God,
Now take back the soul of Roman Gabriel,
Whom you have shared with us.
He brought us joy, and we loved him well....
Now please bless him and keep him with you!
VancouverRam
